A wide variety of non-invasive or minimally invasive medical procedures are conducted by navigating a medical device through a body lumen (typically the vasculature) to the procedure sight. A primary limitation on these types of procedures is the ability to navigate through the lumen, which is determined by a number of factors, including the character (e.g. the size and tortuoisity of the lumen). Various remote and automated remote navigation systems have been developed to assist or facilitate navigation through body lumens, one example of such a system is a magnetic navigation system that remotely orients the distal end to a medical device such as the Telstar system or the Niobe system available from Stereotaxis. However, even with the assistance of a remote navigations system or an automate remote navigation system, the size and tortuoisity of the body lumens is still an important factor in conducting the procedure.
Presently the size and tortuoisity is not taken into account in any systematic and orderly and consistent manner. The physician may or may not have images available from which to make an opinion or judgment about the vasculature and often has not basis on which to make decisions about who should perform the procedure, where it should be performed, what equipment should be used, how the procedure should be conducted, and the path that should be taken.